I know I have to wait a while to get penciled in, but I just couldn't wait any longer to start a planning journal. I've been waiting two years to get to put my ideas in one these, and I just can't take the suspense any more.

First things first:
My name is Tammy, I'm 26, 5'2", and I (still) work at my alma mater.
DF's name is Russ, 24, 6'4", and he's a manager for a paint store.

We've been together since October 31, 2006, and we got engaged October 2, 2010. I've been wanting a DFTW since I was a little girl, and DF (bless his heart) agreed to it when he saw how inclusive the planning was. There may have been a little begging and pleading on my part, too . . .

Our guest list is only 20 (including us) and comprises just our close family members and my best friend (who might as well be my sister) and her husband. We know traveling is a bit of a burden, and we want to celebrate with our friends and family at home, so we're planning on an at-home reception back in Wisconsin a few months after the wedding.

I'll be keeping a table of contents here for organizational purposes (the links are to individual posts), but you are more than welcome to scroll through the thread.

Hi! Are you doing a Wishes wedding? If so, you can get pencilled in at 24 months (that's when we got pencilled in). Then you can confirm your date at the 16 month mark, and contract/confirm all spaces/pay deposit at 12 months. It does take a little bit of prying to get assigned a consultant at the 2 year mark, but rest assured, DFTW's official timeline does start at 2 years.

Hi! Are you doing a Wishes wedding? If so, you can get pencilled in at 24 months (that's when we got pencilled in). Then you can confirm your date at the 16 month mark, and contract/confirm all spaces/pay deposit at 12 months. It does take a little bit of prying to get assigned a consultant at the 2 year mark, but rest assured, DFTW's official timeline does start at 2 years.

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Yes, we are doing a Wishes wedding. I was aware of the 24-month (and, I just redownloaded Carie's book for the update this morning). I guess I was just so used to the 16 month mark being only for penciling and the 12 month mark for everything, I forgot about it. I've had September 17, 2011 marked on my calendar for months.

How we met:
Russ and I met at college in the fall of 2006 during a Nerf Counter-Strike tournament in our dorm. I was actually friends with his roommate, though the two of us had never seen each other before that night. After the tournament was overI forget who wonI hung out with them for the night.

We watched movies together, hanging out on and off for a few weeks, and one night I took a chance and stole a quick kiss before leaving. He was speechless as I skipped out the door, and I nearly hyperventilated half-way down the hall when I realized what I had done.

I waited for about a week before tickling him half to death to get him to ask me out. I won the tickle fight, and I got him to ask at about 2:00 in the morning on Halloween 2006. We started talking about marriage in June 2007, and I worked toward getting him to agree to a Disney wedding. When he realized how much I wanted one, and that they were actually affordable, he said, Honey, we can get married wherever you want.

I picked out and he purchased the engagement ring in August of 2008. We got it early because I found the exact ring I wanted, and Helzberg said it was a limited time item. Russ started formulating his proposal soon after, but we knew it wouldnt come until at least May 2010 because of school.

His original plan changed many times, and I’m not even sure what some of them were. There were a few incredibly elaborate plans, and there were a couple intimate ones. I think what he did was perfect.

Russ was going to propose on Friday, October 1st, but I had an interview that morning (I had no idea it was the same day), so he changed it to Saturday.

I woke up that morning, and he gave me a nice massage, and then made pan-fried ham and eggs for breakfast. We drove to Waukesha to an awesome little Italian place we had been talking about going to for months. They have the best alfredo I have ever tasted.

After lunch, we walked around a little bit and drove down to the lakefront in Milwaukee. It was a very windy day, so the waves were absolutely huge and coming up over the break-water. (There was a bridal party just leaving as we were getting there, and I felt so bad for all the girls in strapless dresses who were getting their hair messed up.) We walked out to the end of one of the rock piers and nearly got blown to bits. It was so cold, but we walked out onto the rocks along the beach to watch the waves roll in, just like in the ocean. The pictures of the waves came out great.

When we got back in the car, he suggested driving to his mom’s to pick up the super nintendo and some games so we would have something to do that night. We also discussed getting the car washed because it was covered in bugs (not very romantic, but it’s us).

So, we drove into Menomonee Falls to get the car washed and decided that we don’t have many multi-player games for the super nintendo, and we could just skip it and go home and play computer games (I found out Sunday the super nintendo was a ploy to get near the park). As we were driving through downtown, he took a turn into Lime Kiln park (it was the first place he ever took me in the Falls, and we go every time we visit).

We got out of the car and started walking through the park. We were about half-way into the park when it hit me: we had always joked about getting engaged there. I asked, “Are we in the park for a reason, or just in the park because it’s here?” He responds (failing to hide a grin), “We might be here for no reason. (a few seconds pause) I’m really bad at keeping secrets.”

Since the normal falls are dry at the moment (damage upstream), we walked down to the lower falls and stopped. He got down on his knee (he told me on the way home he had a little trouble getting the button open on his pocket) and started crying, which made me cry. He asked, I said yes, and we spent the next twenty minutes kissing and crying.

Being the “modern generation,” he said that he would have to post a Facebook status about it as soon as we got home. Agreeing to the status change, I texted my mom, my best friend, and my boss so they would know before the flurry on FB. And, it was.

We picked up a bottle of champagne when we got back home, popped it open (in the shower for safety), and I changed my status to ‘engaged.’ I guess (in a perfect world), Russ should’ve gotten a note to accept the change, but it never showed up. So, we kept at the champagne and searched the internet for what to do. Eventually, we gave up, and through random clicking, I got the note to show up and accepted the change for him. Out friends went crazy posting on our respective statuses and the change.

After powering through the bottle and playing every song with ‘celebrate/celebration’ in it we could find on YouTube, I clicked on “Celebrate You” by Corbin Bleu. I fell hopelessly into a Disney state of mind, and found a video of the “Celebrate a Dream Come True” parade. Russ ended up wearing a nice sport coat, so I put on the only dress I had in the apartment, and we danced in our kitchen to the parade soundtrack. We watched the video of “Wishes” and went to bed giggly and tired.

Engagement Photos
We are going to be waiting until fall 2011 to do engagement pictures. Since the park wasn’t quite as pretty this year because of weird weather patterns, we’re hoping to get the formal photos done next year. There is plenty of time before the wedding, and I’m not really going to be sending any announcements or Save the Date’s until we can confirm with Disney anyway.

I started looking early for my engagement ring. Pretty much as soon as he said he wanted to marry me some day (which was about four months after we started dating), I hit the internet and started looking. I would stop in every jewelry shop in the mall, but I could never find a diamond I fell in love with. Somehow, I always ended up looking at the emeralds.

Emerald has always been my favorite stone, and my birthstone, so it only felt right that I would have one to wear for the rest of my life. I spent almost a year scanning images on Google and listings on eBay for emerald rings. I am not a fan of yellow gold, and I wanted the emerald to be the center stone. Finding one in white gold that I liked proved to be far more difficult than I thought.

If money was no object, there was absolutely no limit to the glory of a ring. But, being college students, I wanted to keep the ring budget-friendly.

The first ring I found that I really liked was almost $2,000. It was pretty, and it had beautiful Celtic knotwork on it, but there was no way I was going to let Russ spend that much on one ring. So, it was back to searching.

Over the summer in 2008, I found the perfect ring from Helzberg. I showed it to Russ, and said this is the one. I called the store, and the lady I spoke with said it was supposed to be a special item and would only be in stock until the end of the year. So, we arranged to meet my best friend and her fiancé (who lived near the store) so we could go try it on and buy it.

As soon as it was on my finger, I knew it was the perfect one for me.

I was a little nervous about what would happen if we got engaged right away because I knew my mom was really pushing to finish school first. I agreed with her, and Russ and I really werent sure what to do. We had a heart-to-heart about when to get engaged, and we decided it would be best to wait until we both graduated (even though it came when I had a year left because my graduation date changed).

Awww love your story! DF and I also updated our status via Facebook, and our walls were flooded! I took screen shots so I could remember them.

Good to see that you play video games, and computer games! You might be my new best friend

Your ring is gorgeous! I can't imagine having the ring and then waiting to actually get it!! That would have been torture!!

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I was antsy any time we would go somewhere or he would act different for almost a year. Then, I gave in and realized I was going to be waiting a lot longer. I was beginning to think he would never ask, and he caught me completely off guard.

hello hello! so have you called to get penciled in yet??? you're officially less than 2 years away now the time will fly and it will be here before you know it! looking forward to reading all your plans!!

I'm going to jump around a little with elements of the planning because I'm still hammering down some details.

The Cake
I started thinking about what I wanted for a wedding cake when I was about nine and used to go with my mom to watch a friend set them up. I always wanted a ridiculously fancy columned and layered confectionery masterpiece decorated with staircases and flowers and a fountain that would probably need a steel table to hold it. Since were not having that many people at the wedding, and DF likes simple things, I wanted elegance and columns while keeping it within the bounds of the small guest list and DFs preferences.

When I first saw the picture of this cake searching Google for Disney weddings, I knew it was love. I sifted through dozens of other pictures, and I was in seventh cake heaven when I saw the thread here. But, through it all, this one has always been my favorite. Of course, like always, I kept looking. And I finally found the ONE cake I MUST have.

My mom collects antique cake tops, and one year we got her a 1970s Wilton cake book. This was where I found the perfect cake. It took a little switching because the layers were not in the order I wanted them, but a computer and a few hours can change that. And, DF and my mom love it, too. Score for the home team!

One of the splurge items I have for the wedding is the cake topper. I found the most beautiful topper from Lennox called Minnies Dream Wedding. Its normally about $90 (I bought it just before Christmas for much less on eBay), but to have something so beautiful as a lasting keepsake just seems very worth it to me. DF saw the picture on accident, and he told it was really pretty. That was when I knew it was meant to be on our cake. The image may also end up on our invitation cover.

I was just thinking to myself, "holy crap, I haven't updated my PJ in almost a week." Of course, class, homework, and realizing a lack of pictures can do that to you. I have most of my ideas written out, I just noticed that I don't have pictures of a lot of things I reference. I have a zillion pictures of the dress, but none of the toasting flutes, my jewelry, my ring, any of the new flowers . . .

Then again, I have far longer to go than all of the other brides and grooms posting their PJs. So, I guess it's just my obsession.

I waited two and a half years to start one of these babies, so I had better be faithful to her and my interested readers (and the lurkers).

I'll be going home next weekend for my dad's birthday, so I'll have to take pictures of the pieces I have thus far (if not for your reading pleasure, but my own piece of mind).

Hopefully, I'll have some time to post ideas for decorating the WP and WHR because I do have snagged photos for those . . .

Tammy, I just got caught up on everything. I love that you and Russ are college sweethearts. I agree it is important to finish school so you can focus on your husband and family without any distractions. I love your ring, emeralds are gorgeous!! I love that Russ loves you so much that he teared up when he proposed, that is so romantic!! I agree that the cake is perfect, simplicity, elegance and the topper just makes it complete. So excited to be following along.

Tammy, I just got caught up on everything. I love that you and Russ are college sweethearts. I agree it is important to finish school so you can focus on your husband and family without any distractions. I love your ring, emeralds are gorgeous!! I love that Russ loves you so much that he teared up when he proposed, that is so romantic!! I agree that the cake is perfect, simplicity, elegance and the topper just makes it complete. So excited to be following along.

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They will be coming as soon as I can get through homework and tear myself away from those darn computer games . . .